3.

Denyefa hesitated and he forcefully removed the shirt himself, leaving her with nothing but her bra in front of him. She clung onto her chest trying to salvage what was left of her dignity. 

"Sir, please... I'm not comfortable with this."

"You know I hate when you call me sir. Now lie down, let me clean your wounds." 

Denyefa had no other choice but to obey. She couldn't possibly fight the king. 

Feeling like a lamb on the slaughter table, she kept still. Enzo had never done this for her before and it scared her to allow the same man who killed her parents to clean her wounds while she lay on his bed in his secret chamber. Everything about the situation felt wrong. Goosebumps spread rapidly over her skin and she tensed at his every touch, her breath catching in her throat. 

Denyefa flinched at the sting of the medicine on her open bruises. 

"Sorry, this medicine will make it heal faster," Enzo spoke in his thick Spanish accent. Sometimes he was warm towards her, sometimes he was cold. 

He finished cleaning her wounds and she sat up to wear her shirt when she felt his large hands over her breasts. She flinched and turned to face him, still holding her shirt in her hand. He grabbed her by the waist and trailed kisses over her chest. She could barely move in his grip. Her breath hitched in her throat as she bore the pain in her heart. If things continued like this he might just get her pregnant. 

"Enzo, please, I don't want to do this," Denyefa pleaded with him. One part of living at his mercy was not having the will to fight him. If he were any of the other officials she would have knocked him out by now. 

She gently pushed away from him but he held her even tighter as he squeezed one of her breasts and forcefully kissed her. 

A tear drop rolled down Denyefa's cheeks and she sniffed, making Enzo stop for the first time to look at her face. 

He let go of her and watched her closely as she pulled on her shirt 

"You're a grown woman now, mi Amor. Don't tell me you don't feel anything."

Denyefa shook her head as the tears rolled down her cheeks. He must be delusional to think that she will feel anything for him. 

How did he expect that relationship dynamic to work? She was eighteen, although turning nineteen in two days and he was in his forties already. 

"All this fighting must have messed with your system. I always suspected it." 

Denyefa stood up from the bed and looked away from him. His eyes were still fixed on her. 

"Don't get me wrong, mi amor. Despite the fact that you give me so much pleasure, I'm only trying to look out for you." 

"I'm fine, sir... Enzo."

"No, you're not. Too much fighting is killing the woman in you. I'll put you in a new position."

Denyefa looked down at him. "But I love fighting. You said it's the best way I can channel my energy."

"Correct, but you can't continue down that line. I want to make sure you're balanced as a woman. Therefore, from tomorrow, you'll join Cassidy and become my second mistress. I trust you'll do a better job. I'm tired of that slut." 

Denyefa fought the urge to eye him. He accused the girl of being a slut after brainwashing her into being one. Well, Denyefa wasn't having any of it. 

"Your second mistress? Enzo! I'm not trained for that kind of job. I'm used to fighting. What if I choke you in your sleep thinking you're one of my targets."

"It's not like you haven't done that before," Enzo shrugged.

Denyefa would do anything to get out of that situation. Imagine sharing a bed with such a dangerous man who was the target of many people.

If Denyefa were his mistress she wouldn't have to bother about boarding sections and the punishment room. But the prospects of sharing the same bed with Enzo and Cassidy too? She would rather spend her days on life-threatening missions and in the punishment room. Yes, the punishment room. Who knew the kind of activities the king carried out with Cassidy? She frequently visited the infirmary even more than Denyefa did. 

"Sir, I would like to decline your offer. I'm satisfied with my position and don't want a change."

"I see you're adamant. Or you're scared. I understand that for someone who has lived her life fighting, this change might be overwhelming. I'll give you time."

Denyefa started walking away when he called her attention.

"You know, I spared you, sending you on easy missions. Join Dante tonight on his current mission. See what it's like to be an assassin and tell me if that's what you want. And note that if you fail on this mission, there will be consequences."

A tempting offer, but Denyefa knew better than to fall for traps like that. She went out in search of Dante. 

Enzo surely wasn't going to back down, he had his end goal in all of this. 

Dante was in the control room when Denyefa arrived there. Her body still felt a bit tingly from her early encounter with the king but she pushed aside the feeling. 

"Denyefa!" Dante's expression lights up on seeing her. 

She returned his smile as she went to stand by him at his computer desk. The control room was a very large space with all the digital devices they needed to monitor an operation. While Dante and the mercenaries went on missions, others stayed back in the control room to oversee their operations and provide the needed assistance. Dante had a special corner of the control room where he had his computer. 

"What's that?" Denyefa pointed at the computer screen.

"Uh... It's the layout for our attack today."

Denyefa rolled her eyes. What's up with these men who always think women are dumb? "I know, I mean the particular location. Where's that?"

"Oh Yeah, this is Guyon's canal, south of Mount Caliber."

The name sounded strange to Denyefa. Over six years she had worked for the king and he had never sent her to this canal. 

"What's this place about?" 

"It's a major link between two army bases. It's heavily guarded but not as that of the army base since it's just a resting point for those transversing that area."

Denyefa drew her brows together and looked at Dante. "So what's so special about this place?"

"The type of travellers it houses, and the things they travel with." Dante paused and zoomed in on a tape playing on his screen. He paused it and pointed at something making denyefa move closer to the screen. "You see that truck there, it's filled with gold."

"Gold?"

"No, not like real gold, our type of gold. Weapons. "

"Oh," Denyefa nods in realization. A good gun was better than a pound of gold cause a good gun could make a pound two. 

"But sometimes there's real gold there. It's a catch, don't you think?" 

Denyefa nodded. Her attention was fixed on something on the screen. "What's happening there?"

Dante moved closer to the screen to inspect it. "They're handing over to the evening shift."

Denyefa looked at Dante, noticing their proximity. He turned to look at her and their faces were just inches away from each other. Neither of them moved away as they both stared into each other's eyes. Dante had always been attractive to her but this urge she felt to move closer to him and take his lips in hers was new to her. 

Dante couldn't take his eyes off her. The leftover feelings from her earlier encounter with the king arose in her body again. She couldn't help moving closer to Dante. She closed her eyes and their lips brushed. Dante moved away and she opened her eyes. Embarrassed, she withdrew from him too. 

The mafia king forbade anyone from touching his ámor.